South Africa's President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has announced that Wednesday, May 8, 2019, would be the date of the next general elections in South Africa, and would be declared a public holiday to allow South Africans once more to exercise their democratic right to vote.

The dates of previous South African elections were also declared as one-off public holidays (21-Feb-2014, 19-Mar-2009, 24-Feb-2004 and 28-Apr-1999), usually on a Wednesday to prevent people from taking advantage of a long weekend to travel and thus not vote.

The electoral and labour laws of South Africa, namely Section 2A of the Public Holidays Act 1994 (Act No. 36 of 1994), stipulate that the date of a general election shall be declared as a one-off non-working public holiday in South Africa.